The Manusela Melomys is a small rat with a light reddish-brown back, a buff belly, and a long pale tail. A 2003 paper discussed two male specimens caught on the same mountain in 1920; its note about tree-dwelling comes from local informants recorded on a specimen label.
The back is light reddish brown; the belly is buff with gray fur bases. Its long, well-haired white tail can show variable brown mottling.
A label on a 1920 specimen says local informants reported that it lives in trees and that the rat was trapped in dense jungle on limestone ground. The paper does not present this as a direct behavioral observation.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.